Harry Potter and the Demigod Professor
by orangeowlgirl
Summary: Percy Jackson goes to teach at Hogwarts (while Annabeth has an internship in England) to help blessed mortals and the descendants of Hecate get back up on their feet after their Wizarding War with the deadly Voldemort. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and all their friends also return to Hogwarts to find out about another threat that might destroy both of their worlds...
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, HoO, or HP :(. I only own my ideas ;)**

HARRY

Harry didn't want to go back to Hogwarts. The memories of the war were too painful, too fresh. Harry knew that when he saw the forbidden forest, he would see Voldemort, and the people he took from Harry. He knew that when he looked at the Whomping Willow, he would think of Snape and his sacrifice. Harry knew that whenever he walked into the Great Hall, he would see the dead, lined up in neat little rows that only made the pain worse.

But there were good memories there too. Visiting Hagrid in his hut, being overwhelmed with homework, playing Quidditch, talking with Ron and Hermione, and, of course, all the time he had spent alone with Ginny.

Harry thought of his friends, and smiled. He didn't have to go back to Hogwarts, Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic, had announced that all who fought at the Battle of Hogwarts would be able to become an Auror without N.E.W.T.s.

But Harry knew that Ginny was being forced to go back for her seventh year by Mrs. Weasley, not being quite seventeen. Hermione wanted to go back, as it was hard enough to skip her seventh year, even though her life was in danger. Ron had caved to Hermione almost instantly, so if Harry went on, he would be without his friends or his girlfriend.

It was then that Harry finally decided to go back. Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived, was going back to Hogwarts.

**I don't really like this chapter, it's too short and nothing happens! But his is just the prologue, so keep reading. It gets better and more interesting, so don't judge on this chapter!**


	2. They're going to England

PERCY

"You want _me _to _teach_?" Percy exclaimed.

"Percy," Chiron said, a hint of warning in his voice.

"What am I going to teach them, how to almost die and get expelled at the same time? "

"Percy, this isn't a normal school."

"It's still a school."

"It's a school for magic. For wizards and witches." Chiron said, successfully shutting Percy up. Percy and Chiron were in the Big House, having a serious discussion, or at least Chiron was.

Percy leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, while he examined Chiron. Chiron was a centaur, half white stallion, half fatherly old man. Chiron looked old and tired, like he needed a vacation. So Percy decided to take the bait

"What do you mean? Children of Hecate?"

"Mostly," Chiron explained, "but they are blessed demigods or mortals. They use wands to channel their power and most know nothing about demigods. This school, called Hogwarts, was formed-"

"Hang on, did you just say the name of this school is called Hogwarts. They named a school after hogs, that roll in the mud, and warts, stuff filled with pus that grow on skin," Percy said, laughing.

"Like I was saying, this school was formed thousands of years ago by the orders of Hecate herself to train wizards and witches from ages eleven to seventeen-"

"You're asking me to teach people my age?"

"This is a special circumstance. A very dark, very powerful wizard rose to power recently. He re-formed like Kronos, but operates behind the scenes like Gaea. He even made himself almost immortal, and his soul is in so many pieces, it will take years for him to even go to Tartarus. A boy named Harry Potter defeated him, and he is sort of like you, Percy. He went through many means to destroy this dark wizard known as Voldemort. He is brave and loyal. He also had a prophecy that predicted his doom. Harry Potter defeated Voldemort, but at great costs. A war took place, killing many wizards. No one wants the teaching job that Hogwarts has, afraid his remaining followers will attack. Since no one wants the job, the school might be closed, leaving untrained wizards behind. They are much more dangerous than any evil wizard."

"Alrighty then. So you want me to teach at Hogwarts. Okay."

"Percy, this school is in England."

"WHAT?" Percy was shocked. He couldn't leave Annabeth, even for a year. He thought he had made that plenty clear when he gave up becoming a god for her. And when he fell into Tartarus for her. And after going over to the romans. "But Chiron, I can't leave Annabeth, you know that!"

"I'm sorry Percy, but we need you for this job."

"Why can't one of the Hecate campers do it? They know a whole lot more about magic than I do."

"You are our best warrior. You have been through so many wars, that you understand what these people are going through. You get logic, problem solving, enemies' weaknesses. You know how to outsmart the enemy, make him turn on himself. You know how to endure pain, how to react. You know how to not show weaknesses."

"Okay, okay, I get your point. I just-" Percy paused, trying to find a way out of this, another solution, "let me tell Annabeth," Percy said, resigned.

Percy walked out of the Big House, dreading the moment Annabeth found out. After all they had been through, a teaching job separates them. It was annoyingly ironic.

Percy saw Annabeth fighting a dummy, Percy being her preferred partner. She slashed and cut with a borrowed knife, not wanting to replace her old one. Annabeth said she did this because none fit right, but Percy knew the sentimental value it held, and knew it wouldn't have felt right if she replaced it.

Annabeth cut and sliced, finding chinks in the dummy's Greek armor. Finally, she slit it's throat, then chopped off it's head for good measure. Turning around, she saw Percy slowly walking towards her. Annabeth put her knife back and walked over to greet Percy. The closer she got, the more Percy realized how nervous she was. He kept fixing her ponytail or looking at the ground.

"Hey Percy," Annabeth was too nervous to even use Percy's nickname.

"Hey, um, Annabeth, I have to tell you something." When Percy said this, her stormy gray eyes that can be so scary filled with concern and even a little fear.

"What is it?"

"Well Chiron sort of gave me a job."

"What kind of job?" Annabeth had her curly blond hair pulled up into a ponytail, a hairstyle that Percy thought suited her best.

"Well it's a teaching job."

"Chiron wants _you_ to teach?" Annabeth teased, the concern disappearing fast, but the nervousness was still there.

"Well that's the thing, it's a school for witches and wizards."

"Witches and wizards? Like the kind from fairy tales? What is this school? How come I've never heard of it before? Is it a secret? Where is it?" Annabeth was now much like her old self, curiosity taking over any other emotion.

"Well that's the thing, it's might be, sort of, kind of, in England." Percy waited for the reaction, the anger or the sadness. What he got was definitely not what he expected.

Annabeth threw her arms around Percy, a wide smile on her face, and yelled "That's amazing Seaweed Brain!"

"Uh, do you really want to get rid of me that bad?" Percy asked, very confused.

"Because, Seaweed Brain, I got an internship with an architect there! I didn't want to leave you, but now I don't have to!"

"An internship is like a job where you don't get paid, right? Why on earth would you want to do that?"

"For the experience! Plus, all these quests sometimes make me miss school, so this will make my college transcript look better!"

"I guess we're going to England."


	3. September First

HARRY

Harry met up with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in Diagon Alley. Harry had apparated here a week before the term started.

Diagon Alley was recovering from the war along with everyone else. The wanted posters of Harry had been taken down. Most of the old shops were re-opening, and the Dark Arts ones were shut down. Harry looked over and saw Hermione apparate just a few blocks down.

"Harry! How are you?" Hermione asked upon arriving.

"I'm fine, Hermione. How 'bout you?" Harry said, faking light-heartedness.

"No, you're not fine. Are you sure you really want to come back? You don't have to, you know." Hermione persisted. But Harry gave her a "drop it" look and she fell silent.

Then, Ron and Ginny strolled around the corner, "Hey, mate, doing all right?" Ron said to Harry.

"Did you two have a good summer?" Harry asked. Ginny and Ron just looked at the ground. What a stupid question to ask. Of course they had a terrible summer, because of Fred's death.

"It was fine." Ginny responded, lacing her fingers through Harry's. The group stood there solemnly for a few minutes, before setting off.

The streets were much less cheerful than before the war, and some shops couldn't open because the owners hadn't survived. Gringotts, the wizarding bank, was still going through repairs. The thought of how Harry, Hermione, and Ron had destroyed it last year almost made Harry smile. The greatest disappointment, however, was Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, the shop George owned.

It was a feeble impression of what it used to be, with dusty shelves and few costumers. A couple of employees looked bored behind the counter, and ignored it when the four friends walked in. Some shelves were empty, and a couple even had cobwebs. The bright banners, signs, and general cheerful mood were gone. George had obviously neglected it after the war. Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry left the shop quickly, probably for the same reason George had: it remind them too much of Fred.

After that, they quickly got the supplies they needed for the new term, only stopping to have a quick chat with Ollivander, who insisted when they passed his shop.

After that they left, going their separate way, planning to meet up again on September first, for the start of the year.

* * *

September first was a saddeningly beautiful day. Summer was living out its last month to the fullest. The bright sunshine and warm weather did not match the cold feeling in Harry's soul and heart. He wished Lupin or Tonks were here to see the sunrise. He wished Dobby or Mad-Eyed Moody could enjoy its beauty. But Harry was going back, back to where it ended.

At King's Cross Station Harry met up with Ron, Ginny, and Hermione, who were already there.

"Are you ready?" someone said, Harry wasn't listening. This was the place where Dobby blocked the magical gate that would take Harry to platform nine and three-quarters.

"Yeah." Harry said and walked straight through the wall.

On the other side, Harry felt everybody staring at him. He heard the whispers, but pretended not to. He was thankful when the others came in one by one. They only had a few minutes until eleven o'clock, when the train would set off. Harry Ron, Hermione, and Ginny found an empty compartment and tossed their stuff in the luggage compartment. They all sat down, not talking, all thinking of the same thing, the same people, the same memories.

There was a tap on the door. Outside were Neville and Luna.

"Do you mind if we sit here?"

"Neville! Luna! What are you doing here?" Hermione practically shouted.

"We could ask you the same thing." Luna said, "But Daddy says it's always best to have a good education."

Neville mumbled something about "Gran told me to…"

"Oh! We're so glad you guys came back too!" Ginny said, while Ron and Harry nodded in agreement.

When the train started, the six of them began chatting, talking about things of little importance, steering the conversation away from the hard parts.

"Who do you reckon the new teachers will be?" Ron said, his face full of cauldron cakes he had just bought.

"Oh! I don't know! We need new Defense Against the Dark Arts, Muggle Studies, and Transfiguration teachers, as McGonagall is the headmistress this year." Hermione said, "Assuming the rest of the teachers stay."

"They'll probably bring in an Auror, like they did in your fourth year, and in my third." Ginny said.

"Yeah but hopefully this one won't be a psycho maniac Death Eater," Harry said, to some laughter.

"I don't know, aren't the Aurors working on catching stray Death Eaters? I don't think they would have anybody to spare," Luna said. Well she was in Ravenclaw. What can you expect?

"Luna's right. The Ministry shouldn't have any extra with all of Voldemort's supporters on the loose," Ginny said.

"No, but a lot of people became Aurors last year, with Kingsley's announcement on the no need for N.E.W.T.s thing," Hermione countered.

"I guess we'll have to find out," Harry, said, putting an end to the ongoing conversation.

**Sorry guys, I really hate this chapter. I just needed it to get to the right viewpoint for their first lesson with Percy. **


	4. Hogwarts

PERCY

On September First, Percy set off, along with Annabeth, on the back of Blackjack.

"You can go now, Blackjack," Percy told the black Pegasus.

_If you say so, Boss. One trip to England coming up_, Blackjack responded.

So they flew. Even with Blackjack's speed, it would take them several hours to reach London, along with the four hour time difference. Needless to say, Annabeth had woken Percy up at the crack of dawn, so they could get going. Percy had complained, begged, whined, and screamed, but still had to get up.

But their journey over the ocean was nice. The waves calmed Percy down, and even though he was in the air, Percy felt at home. With the waves crashing, the tips turning white, and the salty air and spay refreshing him. Annabeth was sitting behind him, her arms around his waist and head resting on his shoulder. She was starting to doze off, but Percy was wide-awake.

After several hours, Percy started to sense that land was coming up. He didn't know how, but he felt the motion of the water disappear, and could feel the animals not going near there, and knew a few people got were in, trying to enjoy the nice weather. Percy gently shook Annabeth as the coastline came into view "We're here."

Annabeth sat up, grabbing for her knife that wasn't there. "What?"

"We're here," Percy repeated, smiling.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No reason," Percy said, receiving himself a glare. Percy had, in fact, been admiring how quickly his girlfriend could go from an angel, sweet and innocent, (yeah right) to deadly, waiting to attack any monster, even though she was on the back of a flying horse going over ninety miles an hour over an ocean.

_Hey Boss, just a question, but where exactly am I supposed to go? _Blackjack asked as they started to fly over land.

"Where is this place?" Percy asked Annabeth, "Blackjack wants to know."

"London. You can drop me off there, and I can take a bus." Percy relayed this information to Blackjack, who changed course.

All too soon, they arrived in London. Blackjack landed smoothly, of course, and Percy and Annabeth hopped off.

"Please don't go!" Percy begged.

"What, would you rather I go back to New York and never visit?"

"Well, no. But still…" Percy whined.

"I'll visit you as much as I can, I promise."

"But that could be months!"

"I'll Iris Message you every day, I promise."

"Fine. But I'm not happy about it."

"Come here, Seaweed Brain," and with that, Annabeth pulled Percy in close and kissed him, "see you later."

Percy reluctantly mounted Blackjack, and flew into the sky. He watched Annabeth as she grew smaller and smaller, disappearing in the crowds of London.

* * *

The school was not what Percy expected. He had assumed that it would be a modern boarding school, with all sorts of computers and things that Percy just didn't get. What he was looking at was a whole new level of fancy.

It was a castle. Yes, a castle. It looked thousands of years old, but still in pretty good shape_. Annabeth would love the architecture_, Percy thought, _with the arches, beams, and stonework. _Percy shook his head, clearing his mind of Annabeth.

Percy was standing near the lake on the grounds, having just arrived. The grounds were beautiful, with green grass and mountains in the distance. There was also a forest, though very different from the one in Camp Half-Blood. It gave off a different kind of vibe. More ominous and scary, and Percy knew that the students definitely wouldn't be playing capture the flag in there.

A lady, whom Percy assumed was the Headmistress, came out to meet him. She had a severe scowl on her slightly wrinkled face, and her graying hair pulled in a tight bun. She wore dark green robes, and was walking toward Percy at quite a pace.

"You're Perseus Jackson, I assume."

Percy winced at his full name, "Actually, it's just Percy."

"Anyways," she said, giving him an annoyed look, and started walking quickly towards the castle, "you'll be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. I didn't want to bring demigods into this, especially ones as young as you, but you're the best for the job. Your office is on the third floor, next to your sleeping quarters. The staffroom is on the ground floor, and here's your list of classes. Breakfast is at eight, lunch at noon, and dinner at six. Curfew for the students is ten, and you have weekends off. Now-"

"Hey, I have a question. Does everyone know about demigods and everything that's happened?" By this time Percy and the Headmistress were inside the castle.

"No, I am one of the few exceptions, being a roman legacy. My grandmothers on either side are Hecate and Athena. I was actually named after the roman aspect of my grandmother, Minerva. Now sit down at the staff table, the students should be arriving soon."

"Um, okay." Minerva strode off towards a pair of double doors and walked in the room that was there. Percy, hesitating, followed. Inside was not a room, but a massive hall.

There were four long tables, each with a different colored banner over top, and there was another table at the front of the hall, with all four banners overtop, where the rest of the teachers sat. But the ceiling was definitely the most amazing part of it. Either it simply opened into the sky, or had some sort of magic cast on it, Percy couldn't tell. Either way, it looked exactly like the rapidly darkening sky outside, down to Percy's favorite constellation, Zoë the huntress.

Then, the doors behind Percy, burst open, and students started walking in. Hurriedly, Percy walked up to sit at the staff table. It was only when he sat down, that Percy realized something: there was no food! _Maybe, it's like Camp-Half Blood,_ Percy thought, _where you just ask for food_. But now wasn't the time, as students were still walking in and filling in seats under the four banners.

Once they all sat down, a door at the back of the hall opened, and a line of extremely short people walked in. Only a few at Camp Half-Blood were that young, probably about eleven. Percy suddenly realized that a short wizard, shorter than some of the first years, was leading them.

The kids all lined up, looking nervous. Then, a couple of older students pulled out a three legged stool and old hat. Then, yes, the hat started to sing. Percy was so surprised that he wasn't even paying attention to the words. Percy tried to, but after a couple lines, the ADHD took over, and he looked at the ceiling/sky, thinking about Annabeth. Percy was somewhat surprised when the hat stopped singing, and the short teacher started giving out instructions Percy couldn't understand.

The teacher called a name, and a little boy went up, sat on the stool, and put the hat on. After a few moments, the hat yelled "HUFFLEPUFF!" loud enough for everyone to hear. The kid scampered down to the table under the yellow banner with a black…skunk?

Another student came up, this time a girl, and the hat yelled, "GRIFFINDOOR!" and on this went, going through all the lined up students.

"GRIFFINDOR!" _They sure have weird names at this place_, Percy thought.

"SLYTHERIN!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"GRIFFINDOR!" After that, Percy stopped paying attention to the students and that weird hat.

After all the littlest kids had been sorted into those tables, the Headmistress stood up, to give a speech.

"Hello, students. For those who do not know me, I am Professor McGonagall, Headmistress of this esteemed school. I know this year has been hard on all of us, so I would like to welcome you to Hogwarts. This year, we have some older students in first year, due to all that muggle-born nonsense. There will also be some older students repeating their seventh year, due to special circumstances," good thing they hadn't started eating yet, because Percy would have chocked. He had to teach people _older_ than him? That would be more awkward than the time he and Annabeth got caught asleep in the stables of the Argo II.

Percy was so distracted that he almost missed the rest of Professor McGonagall's speech "Also, I would like to introduce three new teachers this year. Professor Arthur Weasley will teach Muggle Studies, Professor Perseus Jackson will teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Professor Jefferson Harold will be teaching transfiguration in my place. Also, remember that the forest is forbidden to all students. This is for your safety. Now, without further ado, let the feast . . . begin."

Percy must have jumped three feet in the air. When Professor McGonagall said that last word, food appeared on the gold platters in front of him. Everyone else seemed to find this normal, so Percy dug in. The food was excellent, even with the weird British varieties. Before he knew it, dessert had come. And soon, even that disappeared.

Once Percy was full, he noticed that a lot of students, especially the older ones were pointing and whispering about him, but it didn't bother Percy. He had been bullied way too many times in school to take anything personal.

Then, the feast had ended, much to Percy's dismay. The students and staff were slowly filing out. Percy saw a group of kids that looked about Percy's age, maybe a little older, hanging around. The two redheads were pointing at the thin, blading redhead named Arthur Weasley. But the other two, the brunette girl and black-haired guy were staring at Percy. Percy just shrugged and walked out, towards his room.

In his bed, Percy thought about those two kids. They looked kind of like Percy, like they had been through a lot, lost many friends. But being ADHD, Percy's thoughts soon drifted to Annabeth, and his friends back at Camp Half-Blood.


	5. Defense Against the Dark Arts

HARRY

Harry woke up in his dormitory in the Gryffindor tower. He sat in bed for a few minutes, wondering what woke him up. Oh yeah, first day of lessons! Harry got up and quickly changed, knowing he wouldn't able to go back to sleep, as he was wide-awake. Harry decided to leave Neville, and the rest of his roommates sleep, but Ron wasn't there. So Harry walked down to the Great Hall by himself, to find that the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw tables were filled with older students.

Harry sat down next to Ron, who was sitting by Ginny and Hermione. The two girls were talking about lessons, while Ron looked like he was trying to see how much bacon he could cram into his mouth at once.

"I had no idea that Dad would be teaching here," Ginny was saying.

"Yeah, I reckon he kept it a secret to surprise us," Ron said.

"Well it does make sense for him to be teaching Muggle Studies, him being obsessed with muggles, and all,"

"Though he doesn't really know a lot about them," Harry said.

"You'd be surprised. I mean, compared to me and Harry, he doesn't know much, but most wizards couldn't tell a telephone from a toaster," Hermione said, matter-of-factly.

"But that new teacher, Professor Jackson, looks quite young," Hermione said, suddenly looking worried, "Do you think he knows what he's doing?"

"I'm sure, I mean Professor McGonagall wouldn't choose someone who would do a bad job teaching us, would she?" Harry said.

"Yeah I guess…"

"But he's not half bad-looking, is he?" Ginny said, "Though not nearly as good as Harry."

"Not half bad?" Parvati Patail said shrilly. Apparently she had come back this year, too. "He's gorgeous!"

Then, a group of girls sitting with Parvati all started talking at once.

"He's super tan!"

"And strong, by the looks of him!"

"He looks like a god!"

"Plus, he's not too old!"

"And his eyes, they're like the ocean. Scary, sad, and humorous at the same time."

"How the hell do you know what his eyes look like? He was sitting at the staff table!" Ron asked.

"Well, they're just so startling, anyone would notice them, even from this far away."

Harry remembered seeing the new professor looking at him, once the Great Hall had been nearly empty last night. His green eyes did stand out, but they were calculating, wary. Harry knew that this bloke had seen some things no one should see. He had fought for his life more than once.

"I got our schedules and it looks like we all have basically the same classes, excluding all the extra ones I'm taking," Hermione said, pulling Harry back to the present.

"What do we have first?" Harry asked.

"Herbology."

* * *

An hour later, all the seventh years (except for Neville, who really enjoyed himself) were groaning and grumbling. After the war, Professor Sprout had taken quite an interest in scarier, deadlier plants. She only got them through the Ministry of Magic by saying that they were for "learning purposes."

Either way, all the students had been bitten, bruised, scratched, hit, and grossed out.

"What do we have next?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," she answered automatically.

"Oh, we have Professor Jackson next, we can finally find out about him," Ginny said.

"Well it has to be better than Herbology," Ron said.

When the Golden Trio and Ginny got into the classroom, they saw Professor Jackson sitting on his desk, twirling a ballpoint pen around, apparently lost in thought. He was tall, and looked young, about Ginny's age, but looked like he had gone through more than anyone his age should. He had sea-green eyes and messy black hair. He was also tanned and muscular, but didn't look full of himself.

After the class had settled down he said in a strange accent "Hi, I'm Percy. Don't call me Professor, because that makes me sound old, and I like to think that I have my whole life in front of me, and on a good day, I do. But please, please do _not _call me Perseus. Only my enemies and maybe my dad's side of the family call me that."

"But you're American," a kid Harry didn't know said.

"Yeah and you're British," Percy said, "What's the problem?"

"How old are you?" Parvati asked.

"Uh… seventeen" Wait…what? This new teacher was younger than Harry?

"Who _are_ you?" someone from the class asked.

"Hmm… I thought I mentioned this. I'm Percy Jackson."

"No, I mean, who _are_ you? How did you even get this job? If you're from America than you probably didn't even fight in the war. So, who are you?"

"Who are you?" Percy said, surprising everyone.

"Um… I'm Llewelyn Davies," the bloke said. He had messy brown hair and hazel eyes. Harry thought he had seen him before; he was probably one of Ginny's friends.

"How did you get in this school? Did you even fight in the war?" Percy said, making Harry grin.

"Well, I'm smart, probably smarter than you, anyways. And I did fight, thank you very much," Llewelyn said, obviously getting angry.

"Okay, kid," Percy said, smiling, which took the entire class off guard. No one, no one, talked to the teachers like that (except maybe Umbridge), "but stop getting mad, because I might have to give you detention. Oh, I've always wanted to say that!"

"Are you even qualified-" Hermione started to say, before Percy interrupted her.

"Enough questions, or we'll be sitting here all day." Percy got up and walked over to the chalkboard behind him. He wrote something Harry couldn't read, maybe a different language.

"War," Percy said, "it sucks. I have lost a lot of friends to war. Hey you," Percy pointed to Harry, "you did something important right? Doesn't war totally suck?"

"Yeah," Harry admitted.

"What do _you_ know about war?" Draco Malfoy asked.

"Certainly more than you," Percy said.

"Yeah right," Malfoy said under his breath.

"Yeah. Right," Percy said, "You have _no _idea what I've been through. You could not imagine the terrors I've seen, the places I've been. All because of war. I have been the head/leader/group guy of an army, who won the war, thanks to me.

"So, this year I'm going to go over the basics. You know, battle strategies, logic, defense, and stuff like possession," Ginny shivered, "and prophecies," Percy scrunched up his face in either distaste or pain, Harry wasn't sure which, "and some magical creatures."

"Okay first official lesson: moving on.

"In war, you lose people, it's inevitable. No, war's not inevitable, but losing people in it is. I lost so many friends. Beckendorf, Selena, Luke, Zoë, Bianca, and-" his voice cracked, and Harry could see fresh pain on his face.

"But anyways, the point is to move on. They are gone now, and there is nothing you can do about it. Those who have died have moved on, and they are happy now," Percy sounded like he was reassuring himself as much as the rest of the class.

"As I said before, you have to move on. Not only because if you don't, it'll eat you up from the inside out and you'll end up doing something stupid, but also because you're enemies attack when you are weakest. Which would be now."

"But our enemies are weak now too," a Gryffindor girl, about Ginny's age said.

"Would you say you only have one enemy? This one Voldemort dude, he has to have followers, or he wouldn't be very powerful. Also, there are so many more enemies out there, looking to kill you, biding their time, to strike down, hoping to break you even further. For all we know, Voldemort could just be the opening act."

There was silence. No one had even considered that, that there were more enemies out there. That there might be more wars. More battles. More losses.

"Well that had the intended effect," Percy said, smiling.

"Right, so can anyone define what's on the board?" Percy asked.

"Um… we can't read that… Professor?" Hermione asked, tentatively. _She must be so confused_, Harry thought, _no class has ever gone this way._

"You can't?" Percy said, his eyes widening, "Do you have dyslexia or something?"

"What? Um… no. It's in a different language."

"Oh! It is? Well I have problems writing in English, so it says war," Percy said, glancing back at the chalkboard, "Can anyone define it?"

Hermione's hand shot up. "I didn't catch your name," Percy said, pointing to Hermione.

"War is a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state," Hermione said, again sounding like she had swallowed a textbook.

"Yes and no. While that's the dictionary definition, it doesn't really define war. Can anybody help?"

A few people raised their hands, timidly. "Aw, c'mon just shout out words you think of when you hear war."

"Pain," Harry said.

"Loss."

"Fighting."

"No escape."

"Life or death."

"Cruel."

"Suffering."

"Death."

"Rebelling."

"Victory?"

"Battles."

"Worry."

"Okay, good start," Percy said, "but we're about to run out of time, and we have lunch next! So, you're dismissed. Bye!"

Percy then ran out of the room, muttering something like "food…"

Harry packed up his stuff and met up with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.

"Well that was… interesting," Harry said.

"You're telling me," Ron grumbled.

"I don't know," Hermione said, "something seems… off about him. He talks about pain and war and then switches to something like lunch. I don't get it."

"And we all know how much Hermione _needs_ to get stuff," Ginny said, jokingly.

"But… I don't know. A lot of his friends are named after constellations, though. Greek ones at that."

"How do you know that, Hermione?" Ron asked, bewildered.

"Well, for starters, I actually _pay attention_ in astronomy class. But I mean, Perseus, is a constellation. Zoë the Huntress, did you know that constellation was only recently discovered? A couple of years ago, they found records of ancient Greek star charts with her on it. Before, that, no one knew about that one. Anyways, It's just sort of weird..." Everyone looked at Hermione, lost.

"No way did you get all that from _class_," Ron said, astonished.

"Yes, I did, because I actually pay attention, Ron. Unlike you and Harry!" Hermione stormed off angrily.

"Let her go. She needs time to cool off. We'll meet her at lunch," Ginny said, as Ron made to go after Hermione.

They did meet Hermione at lunch, who had her head in a book with a picture of star charts on the front.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" Ron started to say.

"Oh, I'm not mad at you, you just get a little frustrating after a while. Anyway, look here. Here's a list of all the Greek constellations: Andromeda, Aquarius, Aries, Cancer, Capricornus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Cetus, Corona Borealis, Cygnus, Draco-"

"Wait, Malfoy's named after a constellation?" Ginny asked, "It's probably just a coincidence. I mean, Perseus isn't a very common name, but Zoë is pretty common. We can ask him about it next class."

"Or right now," Harry said, pointing to Percy walking by. They got up and walked over to Percy.

"Hello professor, we'd like to ask you a question," Hermione said.

"What?" Percy asked, "And please, just call me Percy."

"All right Percy, but we were wondering about a few things," Ginny began.

"How'd you get the name Perseus?" Ron asked bluntly. Percy visibly cringed at the name Perseus.

"Well, my parents were big on Greek myths, and their favorite was the one about Perseus, so they named me after him," Percy said, smiling.

"What about Zoë? There's a constellation of her, too."

"Oh, well, her name has no particular meaning. That's just her name, and it's even a pretty common one at that," Percy said, his cheery mood disappearing, "Well I have to go. Tell me if you have any more questions."

"Okay, bye."

"Hermione, are you satisfied?" Harry said, jokingly.

"Yeah, everything does make a lot more sense now."

"So, what do we have after lunch, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Charms."


	6. The Dream

PERCY

"What do you mean, centaurs aren't nice?"

"I am the only one of my kind who is peaceful towards humans."

"But what about the party ponies?" Percy was sitting in the Great Hall, eating dinner next to Firenze, talking about centaurs.

"The what?"

"Um…never mind," Percy said, uncomfortably, "But centaurs have saved my life many times."

"We don't harm children."

"One of my closest friends and mentors is a centaur."

"Maybe they are different where you come from."

"Maybe…"

"Percy Jackson. The stars have foretold your coming."

"The stars?"

"Have you not heard of fortune-telling?"

"No, I have, just in prophecies. Never through the stars."

"Well it exists. Stars tell the future more clearly than prophecies."

"They do? Where have you been the last five years of my life?"

"You have a history with prophecies?"

"You could say that. How does this `reading the stars' thing work?"

"Look, Percy Jackson. See the stars tonight?" Firenze asked, pointing to the ceiling, which looked like the clear sky outside, "See, some constellations are brighter than others."

"Sure, sure."

"Some of the planets also."

"Okay. Which ones? How did you know about me?"

"First, it was the brightening of the constellation, Perseus. Then, the apparition of Zoë the Huntress."

"You know about that?"

"A change in the stars is not lost on us centaurs, us star-gazers."

"Oh."

"Then, Percy Jackson, it was the strengthening of the planet Saturn, then it's disappearance. And the weakening of Andromeda. Then the brightening of Venus and Jupiter. And Neptune, Pluto, and Mars. Then it was the lining up of Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, and Pluto."

"That's actually kind of scary."

"All of these planets and stars caused great mayhem and confusion in the night sky. But now there are signs of everything going back to normal, except one thing. The constellation of Perseus moves, ever so slightly, but enough."

"Um…" Firenze just smiled, "Have you ever heard of a centaur named Chiron?" Someone tapped Percy's shoulder before Firenze could answer.

"Meet me in my office," McGonagall said.

"Okay," Percy said, "Sorry Firenze I have to go."

Percy got up quickly, and followed McGonagall. She was a very fast walker, and most of the time Percy could only see the bottoms of her robes fluttering around corners. It didn't help that she knew the castle a lot better, so Percy just followed her as fast as he could.

When Percy finally caught up to McGonagall, she looked like she was having an argument with the stone gargoyle guarding her office.

"I did change the password," McGonagall said.

"No, it's still Dumbledore," McGonagall cringed at the name.

"Remember, I changed it last night to 'black tabby.'"

"No you didn't. And even if you did (which you didn't), you can only change the password once a year."

"And I did!" McGonagall now looked extremely scary, like she was ready to tear open the stone itself to get in.

Percy interfered, "For now, how about we just use the password 'Dumbledore,' and we can have this conversation later.

"Fine," The gargoyle and McGonagall said simultaneously. Percy walked up the gold, moving spiral staircase that had surprised him so much last week when he came here.

When Percy and McGonagall walked into her office, McGonagall sat behind her desk, while Percy took the other straight-backed, wooden chair in front of the desk.

McGonagall's office was large and circular. There were cabinets lining the walls and a large, wooden desk with a straight-backed chair on either side. There were also portraits of what Percy assumed were previous headmasters. These portraits talked. Percy had gotten used to some weird things like that when he had first come to the school.

"Percy," McGonagall said, "You know nothing about this world."

"Yeah…"

"I have to teach you about it."

"But I'm a teacher, why do I have to learn?"

"The students and faculty will get suspicious."

Percy looked uncomfortable, "About that…"

McGonagall gave Percy a stern look, "What?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure Harry Potter, Ron and Ginny Weasley, and Hermione Granger are suspicious."

She sighed, "Unfortunately, those have a knack for knowing things they're not supposed to."

"Hermione mentioned something about my name, and the constellation of Perseus."

"Understandable. She does take astronomy."

"And about Zoë…"

McGonagall sat up straighter, if possible, "The Huntress?"

"Yeah, why?"

"How would they make that connection?"

"I sort of mentioned her… why?"

"Why did you mention her?"

Percy looked uncomfortable, "I was kinda mentioning some of the people I've lost…"

"You knew her?"

"Yeah. We went on a quest together."

"What?" McGonagall said fiercely.

"I thought everyone knew my life story already," Percy mumbled under his breath.

"How could you have known her? She lived hundreds of years ago."

"Ah… the mist."

"That's impossible," McGonagall snapped, "the mist doesn't affect wizards and witches."

"Maybe because you're a legacy…"

McGonagall looked flustered and upset, "But if the mist is effecting me… then maybe…"

"What?" Percy asked.

"Nothing. Does anyone else suspect?"

"Yeah. Firenze."

"Oh, he knows."

"He does?" Percy was surprised.

"Centaurs' communication is better than human's. They know about each other, and about the humans."

"So that means Chiron wasn't talking about Party Ponies…" Percy remembered when he had first came to Camp Half-Blood, and Chiron had said his kind were wild and barbaric. "What can we do about Ron, Harry, Ginny and Hermione? Use the mist?"

"No, I told you that the mist doesn't work on wizards."

"Why not?"

"Anyway, Perseus-"

Percy winced, "Percy," He corrected.

"Here is a book of spells," McGonagall pulled out a book about twice the size of a dictionary.

"Oh my gods, that thing is huge!" Percy's eyes widened.

"It shows the spell, what the spell does, and the correct incantation for it. Every other Thursday, meet me here, unless I tell you otherwise. Look over this."

"You expect me to finish that in two weeks? I would have trouble without the dyslexia!"

"About that, most of the spells have Latin roots, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Everything else is in Greek."

"Oh, thanks."

"Next Thursday. You can leave."

Percy got up awkwardly, due to the extra weight. He walked to the wooden door and down the spiral staircase.

When, Percy got to his room he saw Annabeth. Percy gasped in shock before realizing that it was just an Iris-Message.

"Finally, Seaweed Brain, I've been waiting here forever. Where have you been?"

"McGonagall wanted to see me," Percy said, sitting down on his bed.

"What for?"

"To learn about the wizarding world and stuff."

"Oh, good. I was wondering how you'd pull this off without any information."

"Hey!"

"That wasn't an insult, Seaweed Brain."

"Oh," Percy responded, "So how're things?"

"Amazing! You wouldn't believe it! All the classes I'm taking are so interesting. And I was given a really high position, even though I've only been here a few weeks. I get to work alongside the head of the company. As his assistant, but all the interns have to. I learn so much from him. He is amazing. He designed…" Annabeth started listing a ton of places Percy had never heard of.

When she was done Percy just said: "But did he design Olympus?"

Annabeth blushed and said, "Shut up, Seaweed Brain. I've learned a lot from him." I smiled. "So how is Hogwarts?"

"It's pretty good," Percy said, "They seem to be recovering pretty well, despite the fact that the last and most important battle was fought at the school."

"No, I mean the people. Wizards! I know they are either blessed mortals or descendants of Hecate, but what are they like?"

"They're so… different," Percy said, struggling to find the right words, "I mean, they use wands and cast spells!"

"And McGonagall is the only one who knows about us?"

"Yeah, and this centaur, Firenze."

"There's a centaur?"

"Yeah, apparently he teaches fortune-telling here. He got kicked out of the forest for helping humans."

"Kicked out by whom?"

"Other centaurs. Not Party Ponies," Percy said, as he saw Annabeth open her mouth, "A different breed, like the Roman centaurs, except not, you know, evil. They are kind of mean toward people, so I've heard."

"Then we should be good, as long as you don't go wandering off into this forest," Annabeth said, teasing Percy.

"You never know," Percy said in a singsong voice, winking at Annabeth.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, and then got rigid. She was looking off at something Percy couldn't see, "I'll IM you in a couple of days. My roommate is waking up."

"Bye, Anna-" Percy didn't even get to finish his sentence before she swiped her hand through the rainbow, cutting off Percy and the connection.

Percy sighed. He hadn't gotten a chance to really talk to Annabeth lately. She was always so busy, and whenever she had free time, Percy was busy. Sure, they had short, quick conversations, but nothing long enough. He just hoped that Annabeth could come to visit soon, since everyone just assumed Percy would stay at Hogwarts.

Percy stretched and lay down, not even bothering to take off his robes. Percy hoped he could finally get rested, but no such luck. That night, Percy had a dream.

Percy was standing behind a huge chain, Riptide in his hand. He was standing next to a dark, shadowy version of the Empire State Building elevator doors. Percy was in _the Place_. The place that came into his dreams every night, getting worse and worse every time. More real, more scary, more sad.

Percy was standing in the heart of Tartarus, pulsing red, with veins of the different rivers. And there, in front of Percy was the worse being he had ever seen. Worse than any monster, any god, any Titan. He was worse than his wife Gaea. Standing in front of Percy was Tartarus.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Fear overtook Percy, starting in his heart, his blood turned to ice. With every beat, Percy became more infected. Percy was more scared than he had ever been in his life. And Percy dropped his sword.

His fear came from the swirling vortex of his face, sucking in monsters and demons. It came from his clothes, with tortured soul living inside it, a thousand times worse than Hades'. These souls were the humans and demigods who had fallen into this inescapable trap.

And Percy saw Bob lunge at Tartarus. He saw every blow with sickening clarity. He knew what was going to happen before it did. Percy saw every hit, ever slash, every cut. He saw Bob getting weaker and Tartarus only getting stronger. Small Bob, now in saber-toothed tiger form charging Tartarus. Percy had been so terrified, that he had no extra emotions to be surprised at this sudden revelation. Small Bob helped, but couldn't keep going forever, Percy knew. Then, Damasen charged his father, alongside the green drakon. He had changed his fate, and so would Percy.

In comparison, everything went by in a flash. Damasen fought Tartarus. Percy cut the chain holding the Doors of Death down. Percy tried to stay behind to protect Bob while he was holding the elevator button. Annabeth wouldn't let him. Percy wouldn't, couldn't leave Bob and Damasen behind. All of this was Percy's fault. Percy could hold the elevator button, he was sure he could do it for twelve minutes. But Percy knew, deep down inside, though he refused to admit it, that it was the only way. The only way any of them could make it out alive.

Percy didn't want to. Every instinct told him to sacrifice himself for his friends' safety. Percy took a deep breath. And all he remembered hearing was what Bob said: "tell the sun and the stars hello for me."

Then, Percy's ears stopped working again, and he stepped into the elevator. Percy pushed as hard as he could against the doors, and everything went black.

* * *

Percy woke up in his room. Panting, he tried to convince himself that it was just a dream, but he knew better. Demigod dreams were never _just_ dreams. There was almost always a meaning or message. But this time, it probably was just a nightmare.

To calm his nerves down, Percy went outside to the lake. It looked like it was one o'clock outside, and none of the castle lights were on, so Percy cautiously jumped in.

The water was cool, but not cold. It felt wet, but Percy wasn't soaked. It helped Percy relax. His dream seemed less real now, thankfully. Percy didn't need to dwell on what it meant, he had already done that for hours, as he had that dream almost every night.

About half an hour later, Percy gingerly stuck his head out of the water, making sure no one was watching. No one was. Percy got out, completely dry, and headed back to his room.

Percy didn't notice a student looking at Percy through the window of his dark dormitory.

**(This is after the titan, giant, and wizarding war, for those who asked)**


	7. Death Eater

HARRY

Harry woke up late that night, at one or two in the morning. He had just had a dream about…what? Harry couldn't remember, but it scared him. He remembered his parents were there, not in a ghost or shadow form, but in real life. There were also Lupin, Tonks, Sirius, and… Fred. Harry couldn't remember much else, but all of it still terrified Harry.

The thing that most scared him was the fact that it had felt so real, like the dreams he had had when he had part of Voldemort's soul in him. Though he missed all of the faces he had seen, but them coming back to life just wasn't natural. Harry had learned his lesson from the Resurrection stone, probably still out there in the Forbidden Forest.

Thinking about this, Harry got up to get a glass of water. It was on the windowsill, so Harry shakily got up and poured himself a glass. Harry was standing there, looking out the window, musing about his dream when he saw it.

First, something disturbed the smooth surface of the lake in the moonlight. _Probably just the giant squid, _Harry thought as he watched the ripples reach the shore. The, he saw a figure of a person coming out of the water. Harry couldn't see much in the waning moon, but it didn't look like a ghost, mermaid, or other water creature.

_How could the person have held his breath that long? Could it breathe underwater?_ Harry knew it had been under for over five minutes, because he hadn't seen it come in the water, and that was how long Harry had been sitting there.

Harry laid back down and tried to go back to sleep, but was too busy brooding on the mysterious figure and his odd dream to feel in the slightest bit drowsy.

For, once Harry was happy when the sun rose, lightning up the dormitory like nothing else could. He got up quietly and quickly changed into his robes.

When he snuck down the common room, Harry was surprised to find Hermione alone in there, reading.

"Hey, Hermione," Harry called out to her, "What are you doing?"

When Hermione looked up, Harry saw she had dark bags under her red eyes. Her hair wasn't brushed and was bushier than ever, "Oh, nothing, I've just been reading," She held up a book called _The Study of the Stars and the Stories Behind Them_.

"You're not still on that whole Percy/Constellation thing, are you?"

"No," Harry could tell that she was lying. "Where are you going?" Hermione asked as Harry made his way to the portrait hole.

"The owlery," Harry said, suddenly remembering a detail from his dream, "But I need to talk to you and Ron when he wakes up."

"Alright Harry."

Harry climbed out of the portrait hole and headed for the owlery. Luckily, it wasn't that late, so Harry didn't meet many people on his way there. Harry did meet Luna, though.

"Hello, Harry," she said.

"Hey Luna."

"What are you doing this early?"

"Couldn't sleep. I was just going to write a letter. What about you?"

"Oh, I always come down to breakfast this early. I don't enjoy eating when it is loud and crowded," Luna said in her misty voice.

"Really?"

"Yeah…" Then she walked off, swaying to a sort of tune in her head. Harry walked off in the opposite direction, with the same, if not more determination than before.

When Harry got to the owlery it was empty. Even going here reminded Harry too much of the war, because of Hedwig's horrid fate.

Harry called down Pigwidgeon, hoping that Ron didn't mind. The miniature owl kept zooming around Harry's head as he wrote the letter to George.

_Dear George,_

_I just want you to know that Fred would have wanted otherwise. He would have wanted you to continue on with your joke shop and your life. Please don't abandon everything, because life goes on._

_With best regards,_

_Harry_

That letter was short, but it was painful. It hurt Harry so much to think of Fred, but he knew it would cause George so much more pain, even if it were true.

Musing over this, Harry almost fell down a staircase on his way to breakfast. When he got there, most of the tables were still empty, but when he sat down at the Gryffindor one, Hermione and a bleary-eyed Ron were eating.

Hermione was still clutching her book, but she wasn't reading it. Ron looked like he was about to face-plant his eggs, but was still eating at full force. When Harry sat down, they both looked up.

"I have something to tell you guys," Harry started. He didn't want to tell them about his dream, because it would only make them worried. "Look, last night I was looking out the window-"

"Blimey Harry, no wonder you look so tired," Ron said, looking like a zombie.

"No, this is important…" And Harry told them about his encounter with the man coming out of the lake.

When he was done, Hermione just got up, mumbled something like "Library," and rushed off.

"So, let me get this straight, you saw a person come out of the water."

"Yeah," Harry said as Ginny sat down in Hermione's vacated seat.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"Last night Harry saw some bloke come out of the water," Ron answered.

"Maybe they were just swimming," Ginny suggested.

"No, this… thing was under for over five minutes. And it's the middle of September, who would go swimming now?" Harry said.

"You know, the water's not actually that bad," Ginny countered.

"But still… There is something strange about it.."

"Where's Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"The library, no doubt," this time it was Ron who answered.

"Oh well… I thing we have potions with Slughorn next,"

"Oh joy," Ron said half-heartedly into his maple syrup covered bacon.

When they got down to the dungeons (after getting lost quite a few times), most of the class, apart from Hermione was already there. At the last second, before the door opened, Hermione appeared.

"Couldn't find anything in the library?" Harry asked.

"No, but I haven't had that long to look," Hermione said, with the glint in her eyes that she gets whenever she has an idea.

The four of them sat in the back, while Slughorn wrote down the potion on the board.

"Open to page one hundred and twenty two in _Advanced Potion Making for the Skilled and Talented_. Now who can tell me what this potion does?"

Hermione's hand was the only one in the air, as usual.

"Now, now," Slughorn said, directed at Harry, "I see our star student doesn't know the answer,"

"You must have me confused with Hermione, sir," Harry said.

"What do you mean, son? If I remember correctly, you were always the best in the class a few years ago."

"Well, you must have me confused with Hermione, sir. I barely passed this class." There were some murmurings about this, as Harry _had_ been the top in his class, but they stopped when Harry stared daggers at them.

"Oh, silly me! You're right, it was this young lady, silly me." Harry could see Hermione visibly relax as Slughorn said that. She gave Harry a grateful look.

"Well, Ms. Granger, what does this potion do?"

"It cures the common cold. It is not used often, for it is very long and complicated, but it can also cure a minor flu."

"Very good, very good. Ten points to Gryffindor."

In that class, they had almost no time to talk, because the potion was, as Hermione said, very difficult. Neville wasn't in this class, so there were no major explosions. But when they got out, they were still sweaty and exhausted.

"What do we have next?" Ron called to Hermione, who was already rushing off in the direction of the library.

"Charms! I'll meet you there," Hermione called over her shoulder.

When they got to charms, Hermione was already there, with a book called _The Study of Mystical Water Creatures in the Modern Wizarding World_.

"Still stuck on that?" Ron asked.

"It just doesn't make sense! None of this adds up!" said a very exasperated Hermione.

"This is really bothering her," Ginny told Ron and Harry, "Don't make fun."

As if to prove Ginny's point, Hermione had her nose in her book all through class, even when Professor Flitwick was talking. Ron, Harry, and Ginny didn't bother getting her to pay attention, because she probably already knew how to do the charm better than anyone else in the class.

But in whispers, Harry, Ron, and Ginny discussed what Hermione was trying to find out about.

The class ended early, due to the fact that someone (Neville) had knocked Flitwick out on accident.

They got to the Great Hall and ate lunch, with Hermione absorbed in her book most of the time.

"There's nothing! Nothing!" She screamed near the end of lunch.

"Blimey Hermione, you finished that book already? It's like the size of my head!" Ron asked, surprised.

She gave him an exasperated look, "Yes, but there is nothing, nothing in here that matches Harry's description. No sea creature has complete human form! Mermaids are the closest things, and they are only half human!"

"Are you sure it wasn't a mermaid, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure. It got out and walked into the castle."

"Ugh!" Hermione exclaimed and walked off to their next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Ten minutes later, they caught up with Hermione outside the classroom. She looked extremely annoyed.

"What is it?" Ginny asked.

"The teachers not here yet! Who's late to their own class?"

"We still have another five minutes before it starts."

"Still."

Just then, Percy ran past trying to go into his classroom. What he seemed to forget, is that it's locked, so he just slammed right into the door.

"Ow!" He said and pulled out a muggle key, trying to fit it in the lock.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all gave him odd looks.

"Why don't you just use magic?" Hermione asked.

"Too much work," Percy said, still trying to fit the key in.

"Here," Hermione said, pushing him aside, "Alohomora."

There was a clicking sound and Hermione opened the door. "Wow," Percy said, "You're pretty good at this magic stuff."

Hermione just rolled her eyes and took her usual seat in the front. Slowly, the class filed in, taking their seats. Percy was still at his desk, shuffling papers. When he turned around, he jumped.

"Wow, you guys are quiet! Try to make a little more noise when you come in, okay?"

The class just looked at each other.

"Okay, I guess I should start teaching now. In today's lesson we are going to do some hands on learning. How many of you have been disarmed?"

Every hand went up.

"Okay, so what you need to learn today, is to always have a backup," Percy started walking around the room, putting something on each desk. It was only when Percy put a knife on Harry's desk when Harry realized what it was.

As soon as Percy was done, Hermione put her hand up. "What are we going to do with these?"

"It's your backup method. Let's say you get disarmed, your wand broke or you don't know where it is. You take out this knife, which your enemy wasn't expecting, and use it to disarm your enemy, or break his wand. If you want to get real aggressive, try to get your knife to his throat. If you don't want to kill, you probably scared him sufficiently, so you should be good."

There was silence. "And my job is to teach you how to do that," Percy said to the stunned class. "Now, has anyone had to use a weapon like this? A knife, sword, javelin, anything?"

Only Harry and Neville slowly put their hands up.

"What type of weapon?" Percy asked Harry.

"Sword," Harry said gruffly.

"Oh yeah. The Gryffindor sword thing. Didn't you fight some sort of snake?" Ginny visibly shuddered at this, but Percy didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he wasn't showing it. "And you?" Percy asked, nodding in the direction of Neville.

"Sword," Neville looked pretty terrified at even the thought.

"Ah, the mighty hero, Neville Longbottom, slayer of Nagini, snake and horcrux of Voldemort. That's right, I know stuff," Percy said to the dumbstruck class. Neville himself looked pretty shocked at getting much more recognition and praise than Harry.

And Harry was glad that, for once, the attention wasn't focused on him. That's what Harry liked about Defense Against the Dark Arts, how Percy didn't seem to make a big deal out of the things that Harry's done. Harry was tired of being famous, looked at differently. Of course, now Harry had actually done something other than survive, but he was getting more attention than ever, which he hated.

"Okay. So get into pairs. Pull out your wands and duel. If you get disarmed, use your knife. I just want to see what you can do."

Harry partnered up with Ron immediately, and they gingerly held out their wands, not wanting to hurt each other.

"Ah, don't worry about hurting each other," Percy said, no doubt seeing Harry and Ron's looks. "Just don't do any of that abracadabra stuff."

"You mean Avada Kedavra?" Hermione corrected him in the form of a question.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks," Percy said, to the class's horror. How could he not know the most terrifying spell of all? How could he not know this deadly spell if he had escaped death as much as he has? "Blame the dyslexia," Percy mumbled to the aghast faces of the class.

"So, start with whatever spell you want, and duel. I just want to see how you do."

Harry looked at Ron, and had an idea, "_Relashio_," Harry said and pointed at Ron's hand. But Ron jumped out of the way in time, not wanting to get hit by hot sparks, and countered his own attack.

"_Langlock_," Ron said, to stop Harry from saying anymore spells. Harry couldn't dodge fast enough, so he felt the unpleasant feeling of having one's tongue glue to the roof of his mouth.

Then, Ron said, "_Expelliarmus,_" but Harry produced a feeble shield charm with his mind. It was enough to slow the spell down, but Harry's wand still flew from his hand. Gingerly, Harry picked up the knife, remembering the torture Hermione had to go through in the Malfoy Manor.

Harry took the short blade and swung it, but Ron was ready for the attack, and had already produced a shield charm powerful enough for Harry not to get close. The shield charm, however, died very quickly, so Harry was able to get in close. Ron's mind seemed to have blanked, because he wasn't firing any spells at Harry. Soon, Harry was able to twist his knife around Ron's in such a way it didn't damage it, but Ron was disarmed.

Ron wasn't giving up yet. He took the knife and seemed even more afraid of it than Hermione had been. He took it and slashed a few times in the air to get a feel for it. Then, Harry and Ron were doing hand-to-hand combat, slashing and slicing. Harry couldn't remember many details, but soon he had disarmed Ron for a second time, and held the knife out to him.

"That's pretty good, for a first time," said Percy, who had been watching their entire fight, "But next time, try quicker, smaller stabs when using a knife. Both of you are obviously more accustomed and built for swords, but it might be difficult for you to carry them around. Use smaller movements, and Ron, your all offense, that's why you lost. Try to get a more defensive stance, so you can parry and counter his blows. Okay? Great," Percy walked away, going off to correct more pairs, but Harry and Ron both looked at him in astoundment.

"Who is this guy?" Ron mouthed, and Harry didn't know.

"I've only seen Death Eaters with that much knowledge of weapons," Harry whispered back, fear in his voice. Suddenly, Ron got a terrified look in his eyes, and he and Ron came to a silent agreement: to figure this guy out.

"Okay class, that's probably enough for today; we'll pick up on this next week," Percy said, and the class slowly gathered up their stuff and walked out. Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny, however, lagged behind to get answers.

"Sir?" Hermione asked once the class was empty; "I was wondering where you got your education, formal and informal."

When she said this, Percy just smiled, "You remind me of someone," he said, laughing. "My formal education, like schools? I've been to like a hundred different ones. Right now I would be going to Goode High School in America, but I have to teach instead."

Harry almost breathed out a sigh of relief; so he hadn't gone to Durmstrang, at least. But Hermione, and Ginny still seemed tense.

"How about informal?" Ginny asked with angel-like innocence. That seemed to put Percy on guard.

"A camp in America, you wouldn't have heard of it. Why?" Percy asked with growing suspicion.

"Oh, we were just wondering," Harry said, with fake light-heartedness.

As the four of them were leaving the classroom, Harry stopped. Percy was concentrating too hard on something he was reading to notice. And there, on his left forearm, Harry saw a black tattoo.

Harry rushed out, and on the way to their next class, Harry muttered under his breath: "Death Eater."

**Ooooooh. Cliffy! Hahaha! Okay, next chapter, there is going to be a super-secret guest coming in. I'll give you a shout-out if you get it right (which you won't, because it's super hard)!**


	8. Cupcake

**Sorry guys, this is a really short chapter and I really hate it. I had a hard time writing it, and that's why it took so long. Bout none of you got the guest! Hahahahahahaha! **

PERCY

Percy saw the monster coming at him. It wasn't a giant or titan, but Percy didn't want to give away the fact that he was a demigod. Percy was on the grounds near the Forbidden Forest, with the lake behind him. Oh, the lake! Percy didn't need it now, but it might be useful later.

This monster looked like a horse from the front, but it's back legs were that of a chicken. It had wings and a feather tail. From the behind, it didn't look deadly, but the chicken legs added to its speed and agility. The tail feathers controlled its flight, and Percy quickly learned that they hurt whipping across your face.

It had the advantage of speed and strength. It was probably one of Gaea's children who seemed extra intent on killing Percy after the war. Percy had also never battled a monster like this before, so he didn't know its weak spots.

Percy looked around and pulled out Riptide. He made sure no one was looking, and then uncapped the ballpoint pen. Instantly, it grew into a three-foot celestial bronze sword, with Greek writing on the side.

"You're part horse, right?" Percy asked it, "You know, my dad's Poseidon, creator of horses."

You do not know the pain you have inflicted upon me. I am the

The monster charged, catching Percy off guard. He swung his sword feebly, but it was a bad swing, and Percy didn't even hit this chicken-horse.

_I am a Hippalectryon. Your precious father destroyed me. He gave wings without the power of flight, unlike Pegasus. Gaea promised me a new life, not running errands for the gods, completely free. But you destroyed her, and I will destroy you._

_So it _can_ talk_, Percy thought, searching his mind for any myths of Hippalectryons. Nothing. Not that this was unusual, but usually monsters showed up in myths somewhere. He would have to ask Annabeth about it later.

Percy swung, this time a good, strong one. It would be disintegrated with a few more blows, but it let out some sort of strangled, half bird- half horse cry.

Out of the Forbidden Forest came half a dozen different creatures. They also had the bodies of horses, but at around their neck, the feathers began, sort of the opposite of the Hippalectryon, with a bird-front and horse bottom. Except, these were eagles, and Percy couldn't talk to them. The Hippalectryon could, however. Maybe it was some sort of universal horse-bird language.

They attacked, all seven at once. Percy slashed and stabbed at feathers and coarse hair. He had felt bad at first, about killing something half-horse, but quickly got over it as they made it clear that they wanted to kill Percy.

As skilled as Percy was with Riptide, he was severely outnumbered. If he had just one other person, he might have stood a chance.

_Water_, Percy thought, _I have to get to water_. Percy had been standing only a couple of yards away from the lake, but now half-horse, half-bird mutants, blocking his path with claws, feathers, and muscle, surrounded him. Percy fought, knew he didn't stand a chance.

But then, something happened. "Die!" yelled a familiar voice that Percy could have recognized if he wasn't so tired and overwhelmed. Caught off-guard from the attack from behind, the eagle-horses scattered back into the forest. Percy had only managed to kill the Hippalectryon and a few others, but their, and evidence of the battle was blown away in the wind.

In front of Percy stood a short man in white Nike shoes and track pants. He was holding a baseball bat and said: "Need some help, cupcake?"

"Coach Hedge?" Percy asked, stunned, "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your sorry butt by the looks of it."

"No, I mean, in England."

"Well cupcake, when we were bringing the big statue, Nico was all like 'bam!' and then we were here. I smelled monsters that needed their butts whipped, but Reyna was all like 'we don't have time… bla bla bla…' so I decided to come back later. Then, I saw one of my cupcakes needing help, so I killed all the monsters. The end."

"Well maybe it's not the best idea to be here…" Percy said, looking around to make sure no one was near them.

"Why not, cupcake?" Coach Gleeson Hedge said, suspicion glinting in his ever-dangerous eyes.

"Um, well we already found the student," Percy said, making up a story on the spot.

"But more monsters could come, and what help would you be to that cupcake if you died?"

"But… Coach… You can't…" Percy tried desperately, without success, to find a reason for Coach Hedge not to stay.

"So it's settled," Coach said like they'd actually talked about it, "I'm staying."

"Great," Percy mumbled under his breath.

"What was that, cupcake?"

"Nothing…"

It was extremely difficult to get Coach Hedge up to McGonagall's office without him noticing all the magic.

"Pretty impressive school, cupcake."

"Thanks?" Percy sped up as a group of first-years walked out of a classroom. If Coach Hedge noticed the wands a few of them were holding, he didn't show it.

"Who's the half-blood?" Percy was spared from answering, because they were at the Stone Gargoyle.

"Dumbledore," Percy said. The gargoyle didn't budge. "Black Tabby?" It sprang aside, revealing the spiral staircase. When Percy and Coach Hedge stepped on it, it started moving like an escalator.

When they got to the top, Coach Hedge just said "Can we kill people now?"

"No," Percy said, exasperated. Percy knocked on the door.

"Come in," she called from inside her office.

"I don't need to come to some important person's office. That's for cupcakes like you."

Percy sighed. "Just come in."

When Percy and Coach Hedge walked in, McGonagall looked surprised. "Sorry, I was expecting someone else, and who's this?"

"Gleeson Hedge. Protector." McGonagall held out her hand. Coach Hedge didn't take it.

"This is an old friend of mine from the U.S. He kinda came looking for demigods…"

McGonagall pulled out her wand, probably about to do some memory or transport spell, but Coach Hedge's eyes widened and he said "Oh, are you one of those magic schools? Decedents of Hecate?"

"How do you know that?" Percy and McGonagall asked at the same time.

"Its part of orientation for being a protector," Coach Hedge waved the question off like it was no biggie. "They teach us so we don't have a run-in with you cupcakes."

"Oh," Percy said.

McGonagall looked furious. When she got mad she reminded Percy of Mrs. Dodds before she turned into a fury. Her face twisted with anger and Coach Hedge grew suspicious. Percy shrank back, knowing that an angry witch and teacher could not be pretty. "What did you call me?" she said in a scarily controlled voice.

"Cupcake."

"Never, ever, ever call me that again unless you want to deal with my full wrath. I am not some dessert. You are not superior to me. I can literally blast you into yesterday. Do not, ever, if you enjoy your life call me _cupcake_ again," McGonagall said in the same low, steady voice that would be so much less scarier if it had been shaking with anger.

"So… What should we do with him?" Percy asked, shattering the silence like glass.

"I didn't come all the way across an ocean to go back after an hour, cupcake," Coach Hedge said to Percy.

"You can stay for a few days, but watch your back," McGonagall said with a glare that reminded Percy of Medusa.

* * *

"Coach Hedge, I sorta have a class right now, so you can go somewhere else, if you want…" Percy said a couple of hours later.

"No way am I leaving you alone, cupcake. We have to watch out for that evil witch. She smells like these wizard cupcakes, but she's showing all the signs of monster behavior."

"Fine," Percy said, ready to try anything at this point, "you can keep watch."

Percy walked in late to his classroom. All the students were already there, so Percy decided to start the class.

"So who can tell me-?" Percy was cut off from Coach Hedge bursting in.

"Coach, what are you doing here?" Percy asked as whispered as the class started the murmur.

"I scared all the monsters off. They wouldn't dare attack anyone while I'm here. I figured you'd need help teaching this batch of cupcakes."

"Uh… thanks?"

"Don't be ungrateful. I took time out of my busy schedule to be here and-"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask, how's the baby?" Coach Hedge narrowed his eyes while Percy smiled.

"How did you know? I only told Zhang." Coach Hedge asked, suspicion in his eyes.

"Oh, well you know, it was only the seven of us once you, Nico, and Reyna left, and you get bored. So, Frank told Hazel, Hazel told Annabeth and Piper, and Annabeth told me."

"Do Grace and Valdez know?"

"Yeah. Piper told Jason, and Jason told Leo."

"Great. Next your going to tell me both camps know."

"You'll have to ask Frank and Hazel on that one. Oh, yeah and Cabin Ten knows."

Percy looked around and Coach Hedge groaned. "Oh, you guys are still here?" he asked the bewildered class, "You can go if you want." The class got up and left, except for four students. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Ginny Weasley.

Hermione approached Percy and said: "That's it? You're not going to teach us anything? We sit here for ten minutes watching you have a conversation and then you tell us to leave? No homework, no teaching, nothing? What kind of teacher are you?"

Percy chuckled. Hermione really did remind him of Annabeth, with her thirst for knowledge. He would have thought she was another of Athena's children, but she had brown hair and brown eyes, unlike everyone else in the cabin.

"I thought I'd give you a break."

Hermione just huffed and said "A break from what? You never hand out papers or give proper grades. If someone is participating, you give him or her an O! What are goings to do on the N.E.W.T.s?"

"What I'm teaching you is more important than a test. I'm teaching stuff that is necessary for survival. I never hand out papers because a monster or enemy isn't going to ask you to write down the spell for defeating them. Plus, unless you guys don't mind taking a test in Greek, I can't grade it. If you want, you can do your own research, but you don't have to turn it in. This is not a class like your others. I'm training you for real life, not for classroom activities."

Hermione glared at him, but Percy had his death stare down to an art. He didn't want to scare her, so he dialed it down. Hermione still pulled away quickly and stammered "Wh-who a-are y-y-you?" before she ran out, quickly followed by her three friends.

"Cupcakes," Coach Hedge muttered under his breath.

**Next chapter is going to be better, I promise. Tell me if you'd rather see Quidditch or Halloween next. I'm definitely doing Halloween, but Quidditch might come later or not at all… Halloween will be told from Harry's POV, then Percy's in the next chapter, since there are two stories going on there.**

**Really bad chapter, sorry, but the next one(s) is/are better… please keep reading!**


	9. Quidditch

**The votes were about even for Quidditch and Halloween, so I decided to do this first, then Halloween, since this came easier to me. Please comment!**

HARRY

It was the first Quidditch match of the season. This year Harry wasn't team captain; Ginny was. There were almost no returning players this year other than Ginny and Harry, so she made everyone try out again.

Harry knew that he was the best and youngest seeker to play in over a hundred years, so he was almost certain that he wouldn't lose his spot. Still, there were a lot of new people this year, whether they were second years that couldn't go last year because of Voldemort, and new first years.

The tryout had gone without a snag- something highly unusual in Harry's life. There were a few other seekers, but none had Harry's talent. A few new players tried out, mainly ones who hadn't seen Harry play. The four or five of them were pretty decent, but were muggle-born, so they didn't even know the rules of Quidditch.

There were quite a few keepers trying out, but Ron had been practicing over the summer, and left them all in the dust. Maryam Swofford was as good as Ron, but she was always rude to the other players, calling them names and spreading rumors before tryouts were even over.

There were lots of good beaters, but Tristan Parrington, the best of them, had hit himself with a rebounding bludger, causing a very serious head injury. After they took him to Madam Promfrey, she said he needed rest and to stay away from bludgers. Eliza Kingsbury had been really good, but threw down her bat and started yelling at everyone every time she missed a bludger. Jimmy Peakes, a returning beater, had had much more practice, and was very aggressive. Ritchie Coote, also a returning beater, was a little arrogant, but everyone else was simply horrid.

Two of the chasers were returning, Demelza Robins, and Ginny. Dean had lost his spot to Dennis Creevey, who had decided to try out this year. He was taking the loss of his brother Colin extremely easily, because he took out all his anger and frustration on the game and the other team.

Practices were usually uneventful, filled with hard-core and exhausting practices to get the team ready for their first match against Slytherin.

On the day of that first match, Harry woke up early. The butterflies in his stomach reminded him of his very first match, but this time he was excited, not nervous. He walked down the many staircases to the nearly empty Great Hall. Most of the Slytherin team was gathered around the their table, looking nervous. They whispered as Harry walked by, but he wasn't worried.

When Harry sat down, he realized how early it was. Only Ginny and Hermione and a few others were up. Ginny looked like she was having a silent panic attack, but her back was turned to the Slytherins.

"What wrong Ginny?" Harry asked, real concern in his voice.

"I'm going to mess this up for everyone. Team Captain, what was I thinking? How could you handle it, Harry?"

"It's not as bad as you're making it seem. You'll do great. You picked the best players and we all work well together. I mean, look how nervous the Slytherins seem," Harry said, helping himself to toast and jam.

Ginny looked behind her and visibly relaxed. She smiled that smile that made Harry's heart squeeze and said "Thanks, Harry."

Slowly the rest of the student came in. Usually they would not be up so early on a Saturday, but Quidditch matches always stirred up excitement like nothing else could. By the time the owl post had arrived, the Great Hall was buzzing with excitement.

When Ginny stood up, the rest of the team followed suit, as if they were just waiting for her signal. When they were outside, Ginny and Harry started checking the weather conditions.

Low clods hung in the air, signs that autumn was upon them. There was freezing wind, though it was not strong. The air was damp and cold, but the team had practiced in much worse conditions. But, the ground was hard enough for a good kick-off.

Inside the locker room, the air was tense. While the Gryffindor team was excellent, the Slytherins had many second years, and the Gryffindors hadn't seen them fly yet.

"Alright," Ginny began, putting on a brave face, "our team is excellent this year. We have all played before, so we know how out strengths and weaknesses. This game, we are going to try to score as many points as possible early, because we don't know how the other team's chasers are. Harry, don't rush catching the snitch, but if you see it, don't hesitate. Ron, don't be nervous. Jimmy, Ritchie, try to keep the bludgers away, and if you can, towards stray Slytherins. Please don't knock it near any of our team, even if it's one of us surrounded by all Slytherins. Dennis, Demelza, let's try the 360 loop from behind, then get in a stack formation. Try to stay in a stack, but if we have trouble, I'll call a time-out. Got it? Everyone ready?" Ginny didn't wait for the nods of agreement, she just walked out, her head held up high.

There was a new announcer this year, Jade Whyte of Hufflepuff. She was a happy first-year who loves Quidditch, but apparently doesn't have the talent to play. Since this was her first time announcing, McGonagall was sitting next to her, just in case.

"And, from the Gryffindor team, we have Weasley, Peakes, Coote, Creevey, Robins, Weasley, and Potter!" she said to a roaring crowd.

Harry walked out and mounted his new broom. It was another firebolt that Viktor Krum had given to him because his broom had been destroyed, and as a thank-you for putting a stop to Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

After Ginny shook hands with the Slytherin Captain, Madam Hooch let the four balls go. The bludgers streaked off into opposite directions, waiting to beat the players into pulp. The snitch zoomed off towards the stands and out of sight. Madam Hooch threw the quaffle into the air as she simultaneously blew her whistle.

Harry kicked off from the ground and zipped through the air. A purely euphoric feeling engulfed Harry, and the stands, the other players, the balls, and the stands of cheering students disappeared. All that existed was Harry, his broomstick, and the open air, extending endlessly upwards.

"Today is the first match of the term, Gryffindor against Slytherin. The game takes a nice start with Ginny Weasley getting the quaffle. She goes straight through Slytherin's poor defense and looks like she's trying to score. But look, she throws it above the rings to Colin Creevey in the back. While the keeper is still focused on Ginny Weasley, Colin Creevey scores, bringing the total to ten-zero.

"Slytherin gets the quaffle, passing it in formation. A bludgers heads their way, aimed by Jimmy Peakes. Vining drops the quaffle, and it is caught by Delzma Robins of Gryffindor. She shoots, but Garret Leatham, the keeper for Slytherin, blocks it.

"Gryffindor gets the quaffle again. Ginny Weasley takes it toward the goalposts, dodges a well-aimed bludgers, fakes to the right, and scores!

"This time, Slytherin gets the Quaffle. Adonis Keesler dodges and swerves through Gryffindor's defense, he shoots, but Gryffindor's Ron Weasley blocks the shot. He throws it to Delzma Robins, who goes under the Slytherin defense. She shoots to the far left, barely making it in the far goalpost. Garret Leathman dives for it, but is too late. Gryffindor scores again!"

After what had felt like mere minutes, but what were really a few hours, Harry spotted it. The golden snitch. It's shiny gold exterior stood out like nothing else against the gray, damp clouds. Harry accelerated slightly downward. No one else was in sight. He was going to catch it! Then, out of nowhere, came Malfoy, the Slytherin seeker.

Malfoy had gone back to school, but never insulted Harry. They had been friends-on loose terms. Malfoy never snickered or made fun of Harry. When they passed in the hallways, they would sometimes acknowledge each other. For the most part they avoided each other, and Malfoy hadn't drawn extra attention to himself.

But this was a Quidditch match. They were on different teams, so they were enemies again. Apparently Malfoy had also seen the snitch. When he saw Harry, he didn't sneer or make fun of him as he would have a year or two earlier. A look of determination just settled on his face. Malfoy wanted this, and he was so much closer to the snitch.

But Harry was a better flyer and had a better broom. Malfoy was flying a direct path, but that was where the wind was strongest. Harry went slightly below, sloping even further downwards. He accelerated and got a few hundred yards below the snitch. Harry sped upward, where there was almost no wind.

Harry and Malfoy were closing in at the same time. Malfoy from the side, Harry from below. But Malfoy got there faster. His hand closed loosely around the golden, flying ball. But he hadn't held on tight enough. The snitch, seeking freedom, flew away from Malfoy's as fast as it could. And it flew right into Harry's palm.

There was a shrieking whistle that cut through the unusual silence that had enveloped the Quidditch pitch. Every eye seemed to be on Malfoy and Harry. Nothing like this had ever been seen at Hogwarts.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle again, and flew down to the stands to get her rulebook. After studying it for what seemed like years she called to the entire school.

"There is nothing regarding this particular case. I will call it a draw, so both teams get the points. So the total is Gryffindors with two hundred and twenty points, and Slytherin with one hundred and eighty points. The match goes to Gryffindor!" Madam Hooch yelled over the cheering and booing crowd.

"You did a good job, Malfoy," Harry said.

"You too, Potter," Malfoy smiled, not a smirk or a sneer, but a friendly one.

The Gryffindor team lifted Ginny up, carrying her all the way the Gryffindor tower. The first match of the season was always one to celebrate; the entire house was up way past midnight, drinking butterbeer and eating Pastries from the kitchens.

Harry was happy. Not because they won, or because of the extra food that Hermione scoffed at, but because he had a family. One who cares about him past his achievements, past even his talent on the Quidditch field. Most of all though, he was happy that the trouble was finally over, that there was no Voldemort or any other enemies for that matter.

How wrong he was.

**Hahahahaha cliffy! Next chapters are going to be about Halloween! I will try to post ASAP, since I have spring break this week.**


	10. Annabeth

**Wow. Over 15,000 views… Thanks for supporting me and continuing to read this…**

PERCY

Percy made sure to get a donut from the Great Hall that morning. He went outside by the lake and waited. And waited. And waited. Seriously, how could it take that long? It was only about an hour to fly here. Had Blackjack forgotten? Had _Annabeth _forgotten?

But, no. There was the little black dot on the horizon that could only be Percy's loyal Pegasus coming. Blackjack swooped and soared through the clouds, scaring Annabeth half to death, even though she wouldn't ever show it.

When they finally landed, Blackjack said: _You brought me a donut, boss! Thanks!_ Blackjack took the donut and flew away, still chomping on the pink frosting, and leaving a sprinkle trial to rival Hansel and Gretel's.

"Hey Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, smirking. Annabeth had finally gotten a few days off from her architecture internship.

"Hey Annabeth."

"Wow," Annabeth said looking at the castle over Percy's shoulder. "This place is amazing. To think it has stayed around for thousands of years without collapsing or crumbling. Either they had an extremely good architect, or it uses magic. I'll have to ask Lou Ellen…"

Annabeth started walking towards the castle, soaking in everything. "So they don't know about Half-Bloods?"

"Just McGonagall. And Firenze. That's it, I think," Percy said, jogging to keep up with Annabeth's rapid pace.

"Are you… oh, wow!" Annabeth had just made it to the Great Hall and was staring up at the ceiling in awe. "That's amazing! It reminds me of Olympus, but it's not open to the sky… wow."

"C'mon," Percy said, gently pulling Annabeth away from the Great Hall.

Annabeth shook her head, still dazed from the ceiling, but as soon as she walked out of the Great Hall, she snapped out of it and started asking questions at the speed of light.

"How does the ceiling do that? Is it enchanted?"

"I think so, but I'm probably the wrong person to ask," Percy said.

"How has this building stood up for thousands of years? Who designed it?"

"As far as I can tell, part of it fell in a battle last year. They used magic to rebuild it so fast."

"That's…amazing. I bet Hecate designed it, so it is magic-tolerable, sort of like the Hecate cabin back at camp."

"Sure…How do you know your way around here, anyway? I still don't and I've been here two months."

"It's a simple layout. Plus, they would put the most sensible rooms in the most sensible areas," Annabeth, said walking towards Percy's room.

"But things keep moving around. Like the staircases and pictures," Percy complained.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes. "Do you have a class today?"

"Yeah, in about ten minutes. We would have had more time is _someone_ wasn't so late."

"I was fifteen minutes earlier than what we planned."

"You were?"

"Yeah, now come on Seaweed Brain, we have a class to go to."

* * *

The Great Hall was decorated with flying bats carrying around orange streamers that reminded Percy of Camp Half-Blood. The gigantic pumpkins glowed with soft yellow lights. The corners had been draped in fake spider webs sprinkled with rubber spiders that made Annabeth shiver. There were also skeletons enchanted to dance, which reminded Percy too much of Nico and other things from the Underworld. But, overall, the Great Hall sparkled with a gusto that could only mean one thing: it was Halloween.

Halloween was one of the happiest Percy had ever been to. Sure, most of the student seemed upset, but it was the first Halloween Percy had ever spent with Annabeth; they were at different schools most of the time.

It was going to be the second feast of the year that night, but first there was going to be the first trip to Hogsmeade, the town surrounding Hogwarts.

When Percy and Annabeth went outside of the castle and into the little village, they walked around. They walked past a few shops until they saw one that caught Percy's attention.

"It's a candy store! Honeydukes? Let's go!" Percy ran off towards the gingerbread-like store. The windows were fogged up with condensation and it looked extremely crowded. But Annabeth ran after Percy, laughing anyway.

It was definitely the weirdest candy store either of them had seen. There were sugar quills, blood-flavored lollypops, insect hard candy, acid lollypops, frog-shaped chocolate, weird-flavored jellybeans, and just about any odd thing you could imagine.

"Come on, Percy, let's go somewhere else, we've been here for almost an hour," Annabeth said when she finally got fed up with the crowds inside the cute shop.

"But-but- fine," Percy said as Annabeth pulled him out.

"The architecture here is amazing," Annabeth began, "Hey, what's that?" she pointed to an old, abandoned house.

"The Shrieking Shack. Some people say it's haunted."

Annabeth scoffed "Please. Let's check it out." She started walking, so Percy had no choice but to follow.

When they got to the top of the hill, the shack looked kind of beat up and lonely, not at all haunted-looking.

"Why would they think that's haunted?" Annabeth asked, surprised.

"I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that it's boarded up and look inside." Percy pointed to the cracks in between the boards, where broken furniture could be seen.

"Well I'm pretty sure a ghost can't do that," Annabeth said, "Maybe we should go somewhere else…"

"Sure, I've heard of some pretty interesting places around here."

Annabeth and Percy walked down the hill that overlooked the town. They wandered the streets, hand in hand, just having a good time. When Annabeth was around, it was easy for Percy to forget his troubles that so often preoccupied his mind. With Annabeth, Percy was just … Percy. No war, no Tartarus, just Percy.

Percy had a good time… until the spiders came.

Percy and Annabeth laughed at a gag-worthy teashop called Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. They even got something to drink at The Three Broomsticks- even though Annabeth was scandalized that the students were drinking butterbeer- they weren't sure if it was real beer, or more like root beer.

But after they got back to the castle, things started to go wrong. They had gone onto the grounds to enjoy some ore fresh air before the feast, when, out of the Forbidden Forest, came gigantic spiders, easily the size of Arachne.

Big and bulky, pincers pinching, the group of maybe hundreds of them went straight for Annabeth.

"Daughter of Athena," They said in between the snaps of pincers, all eight eyes staring at Annabeth, "You followed the mark, and tricked our grandmother. You sent her straight into Tartarus, and killed her. She is the most powerful, but we are many! We shall destroy you, and you can't fight us!"

Annabeth looked terrified. There was a hopelessness in her eyes that Percy couldn't stand. It looked like it took all of her effort not to run screaming. Percy locked eyes with her and they mutually agreed _Stay and fight_.

Annabeth took out a spare knife she had somehow gotten and Percy uncapped Riptide. Instantly, it grew into a three-foot celestial bronze sword, good for fighting Greek monsters.

When the spiders saw Riptide, they backed off slightly, but the largest one- obviously the leader- held it's ground. Percy and Annabeth went back-to-back, the way they always fight when they're surrounded.

Percy slashed out at a leg of one of the smaller ones. It crumpled, unable to get up, but not seriously injured. Percy stabbed at its exposed belly, and left it to die. Percy moved on, and soon his sword was just a whirr of metal, bringing down the enemy.

Percy had killed dozens of monsters, but they just kept coming, and Percy didn't know how Annabeth was doing with just a borrowed knife. Percy's energy started to wane, and he knew he couldn't keep it up much longer. _The lake!_ Was Percy's only thought, but he couldn't leave Annabeth.

Instead, concentrated, and the lake exploded. The water make some spiders fall, but it didn't affect most. But Percy had gotten wet, and was full of new energy. He slashed and stabbed, and before he knew it, the spiders were gone, all turned to dust or lay dying.

Percy looked over at Annabeth, who was shivering and looked scared. Percy hugged her, pulling her in close. No words needed to be spoken. When Percy finally did look up, he saw McGonagall coming their way.

"What was that?" McGonagall asked in her sharp tone of voice.

"Uh, giant spiders trying to kill my girlfriend?"

"What were they doing on the grounds? You're not a daughter of Athena are you?" she asked Annabeth.

Annabeth looked up and nodded. She hadn't been crying, but was close to it.

"Hmm… they always stayed in the forest because of me, but you are obviously more powerful than I. Are they all dead?"

"Some ran off into the forest," Annabeth said before Percy could answer.

"They shouldn't be attacking again after what happened… But what will the students think?"

McGonagall waved her wand and all the dust and injured spiders disappeared.

"Get inside, let's hope no one saw you," McGonagall said, ushering them towards the castle.

**Yayyyyyy! End of another chapter! Short, I know, but in the next one, something BIG is going to happen!**


	11. Halloween

**Hi, I feel like I haven't updated in forever, so here it is. I got over 20,000 views, so thanks you for being so supportive and reading this. Plus, I wrote another story: The Story of Zoë Nightshade, and I would appreciate it if you check it out! Please review, I love reading them, good or bad, to see how I'm doing. BTW the spell is a tweaking of the latin translation of the word "english" and all the books mentioned are real, so don't sue me for copywriting!**

HARRY

"I've got it!" Hermione said at the breakfast table a few days before Halloween. "I don't know why I didn't think of it before, it's so simple! Obviously that thing coming out of the water was just a regular wizard. He or she just used a bubblehead charm. Or transfigured themselves into an underwater creature."

"Or Gillyweed," Harry said, remembering the circumstances that had caused him to eat that four years ago.

"Well that, and most other plants with the same abilities are extremely rare, and no one would pay that amount of money or steal from Slughorn for a nighttime swim."

"You're slacking off, Hermione," Ron teased, "I bet in out first year you would have figured that out in a few hours."

"Well I have better things to do, Ronald," Hermione said, glaring daggers at Ron. "Like helping the poor, enslaved-"

"Not spew again."

"How many times do I have to tell you? It's not spew! It's S.P.E.W.! The Society for the Protection of Elfish Welfare!" Hermione shrieked, louder than some of the owls bringing post in.

"No need to get angry, Hermione, I was just teasing," Ron, said, his hands up in a defensive position.

"Whatever," Hermione said, a term she had no doubt picked up from their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Percy.

"What class do we have next?" Harry asked.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." The four of them got up, heading towards that classroom.

"What did Percy say we'd be learning about?" Harry asked.

"Professor Jackson."

"He said to call him Percy," Harry protested.

"And I'm not calling a bloke who's younger than me 'professor'," Ron said, much to Hermione's annoyance.

"He's still in a position of higher authority."

"And he's still flipping younger."

"That's not the point, Ron."

"Then what is the point?"

"He's still your professor and your teacher."

"Like Harry said, he said to call him Percy."

"But he's still our teacher!"

By the time Ron and Hermione had finished their argument, the four of them were already in their classroom. Harry had time to register Percy and a girl with intimidating gray eyes, and curly blond hair, before Percy bust out laughing. The girl, who was tall muscular, and looked about Percy's age rolled her eyes at Percy. She held out her hand to Harry "I'm Annabeth Chase."

"Harry Potter," Harry said, shaking her hand. He expected to see recognition on Annabeth's face, as Harry had unfortunately become very well known after the war, but Annabeth didn't seem at all surprised, shocked, or impressed.

Annabeth Chase introduced herself to the rest of them, all the while Percy was laughing.

Finally, Ron asked, "What's he laughing at?"

Annabeth sighed and said, "You're argument." She didn't elaborate.

"But what's so funny?"

Percy had finally stopped laughing long enough to say, "They remind me of us," before he started giggling hysterically again.

"How?" Ron asked.

"Well, you two are obviously dating," Ron and Hermione glanced at each other in alarm before Annabeth continued, "And you're obviously a lot smarter than him," Annabeth addressed Hermione, "And you always make annoying jokes," Annabeth told Ron, "and our relationship is a lot similar to yours." Annabeth said, reminding Harry of Hermione.

"Blimey," Ron said ever so intelligently.

"You two are dating?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Annabeth said, giving Percy a funny look. He had finally stopped laughing.

By that time the students had started coming in. Once the class was all settled (aside from the whispering about Annabeth), Percy said, "I have brought in a special guest today. This is my girlfriend, Annabeth, who will be teaching you about logic."

Many of the girls sighed in disappointment, and a few looked angry and jealous. But mostly, people were whispering to one another.

"I'm Annabeth Chase," Annabeth said.

"Annabeth can talk her way out of _anything_," Percy interrupted. Annabeth glared at him.

"What sort of things have you done?" a boy in the back asked.

"Quite a lot. I would explain it to you, but I can't."

"Why not?"

Harry noticed that Annabeth gave Percy a worried look before continuing. "Does it matter?" Silence was her answer enough. "Anyways, as I was saying, I'm here to teach you about logic." No one dares interrupt her. "Suppose you lose your wea- wand. You are stuck, with no help on the way. What do you do?"

No one said anything. Harry raised his hand tentatively.

"You. Harry, right?" A few people gasped at her not knowing who Harry was.

"You get them to talk, until you find a solution."

"Very good." Annabeth looked impressed. "Have you talked about fatal flaws yet?" Annabeth asked Percy.

"No."

"A fatal flaw is the thing about you that will get you killed. A lot of villains' flaws are pride and superiority. This makes them easy to trick."

"What do mean by 'trick'?" someone called out.

"Outsmarting your enemies. Most of the time this involves talking. You get their pride up, and create mass confusion. Sometimes you can get away."

A scrawny student raised his hand. "What do you mean by 'sometimes'?"

"It doesn't always work. Sometimes you get killed, or sometimes, help comes." Annabeth said this so calmly, but the sadness in her eyes makes Harry believe that it was probably the former.

"Here are some scenarios," Annabeth said, gesturing to the chalkboard behind her. Written on it was a bunch of letters Harry couldn't make sense of. "Write them down with the remainder of class. They will be turned in as homework by next class. Begin."

"Excuse me, Annabeth?" Hermione said, "That's written in Greek."

"Styx," Annabeth muttered under her breath. Thunder rumbled. Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Is there a spell to turn this into English?" she asked the class.

"Yes, but shouldn't you know it?" Hermione said.

"I do, but I'm testing your knowledge," Annabeth retorted a little too quickly. Hermione narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Angliciuse," Hermione muttered and the words turned to English.

The class began copying it down, but Harry noticed that Hermione kept glancing at Percy and Annabeth with suspicion.

As soon as class was over, Hermione sprinted out the door, calling "Library" over her shoulder.

"What's she up to this time?" Ron asked as they made their way towards Charms.

* * *

The next day was Halloween. The first two months of the term had gone surprisingly fast. In what seemed like no time, Harry was up and ready for the trip to Hogsmeade and the Halloween feast.

Harry and Ron met Ginny and Hermione in the common room. Where Hermione had books strewn everywhere. Ginny looked like she was trying the calm Hermione down.

"It's not that big a deal, Hermione," Ginny said.

"Yes it is! How could the library not have something? They had it last year!"

"Had what last year?" Harry asked.

Hermione waved the question off. "Never mind."

"Let's go down to breakfast," Ginny suggested.

The Great Hall always looked amazing on Halloween, but this year, it was extra fantastic. Bats with orange streamers, huge pumpkins that talked, spider webs with what looked like real spiders, skeletons that sung and danced, and mummies that walked around, tripping on their dragging linen.

But despite McGonagall's best efforts to cheer up the school, most of the students looked even gloomier than before. The skeletons and ghosts were reminders of how many people died, how many were lost.

But overall, it was a good Halloween. The Hogsmeade trip was fun, a reminder that there are good things still left, still good memories to counteract the bad ones.

Probably the most interesting thing that happened that day was the spiders. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were on the way back from Hogsmeade. They were stuck with the stragglers, those few who were late coming back in the castle. The four friends were late because of the good time they had had in the little town. They didn't want it to end. They had visited the Hog's Head and said hello to Abeforth, and even visited Zonko's.

When they were coming into the castle, they saw Percy and his girlfriend, Annabeth. They were talking and laughing about something or another, when out of the Forbidden Forest came the spiders. Ron immediately cowered away, but the giant spiders only seemed to go for Annabeth. They said something Harry couldn't hear, but Hermione obviously did, because she looked completely astonished.

Then the strangest thing happened. Percy took out a muggle pen from his pocket, and uncapped the top. Immediately it turned into a sword. A three-foot bronze sword. But Percy seemed completely at ease with it, swinging it left and right, making the spiders crumble to a fine gold powder. Annabeth was also fighting them, with a bronze knife, back to back with Percy. They seemed completely at ease, but their faces showed hard concentration. Then the water came up from the lake and drowned most of the spiders.

Harry was confused. How could the water come up like that? It had never happened before. Ron also seemed confused, and Ginny looked scared. But Hermione looked the most worried. She was pacing back and forth, muttering "No no, no, no, no. This isn't happening. This can't happen. No, no, no," under her breath. Then, she suddenly sprinted off to the castle.

"Where are you going?" Harry shouted toward her retreating figure.

"Owlery! I have to send a letter!" Hermione shouted as she sprinted towards Hogwarts.

"Why does she need to go to the Owlery now?" Ron asked, bewildered, his voice still shaking a little from the spiders.

"She told me a theory she had, but it really seems impossible," Ginny said, looking more worried still.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"I don't want to scare you."

"At least tell us who she's writing to," Ron said.

"Her parents. She's asking for books."

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Hermione got a huge package from her parents.

"Blimey, what's all that for?" Ron asked, with his usual amount of tact.

There were about six or seven books in all, and they looked like muggle books. They had titles like: _Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of the Greek Myths, Mythology for Dummies, _and _A Treasury of Greek Mythology._

Hermione didn't even answer Ron; she just dived right in to the books. Hermione was so interested in these books that she didn't even pay attention in class. Occasionally she would say things like "Oh no, oh no. This is not happening." But other than that, she wouldn't say a word to Harry or Ron.

At the end of the day, Hermione finished all her books. The four of them met up in the common room. In their favorite seats by the fore, she told them her theory.

"But how?" Harry asked, "It's all fake. None of this can be real."

"That's the thing. What if it's not fake?" Hermione said.

"How do you know all of this anyway? It's not like Binns teaches it," Ron said.

"Like you would know what Professor Binns teaches," Hermione scoffed, "I went to a muggle school. They teach that kind of thing there."

"What makes you think this?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know. Even if is fake, it sort of fits. He wrote in Greek. The gold dust. His sword. The constellations. And the spiders."

"What do those _things_ have to do with it?" Ron looked disgusted.

"Well, one of the myths deals with a feud between the goddess Athena and spiders. And that spider said 'Daughter of Athena. You followed the mark, and tricked our grandmother. You sent her straight into Tartarus, and killed her. She is the most powerful, but we are many! We shall destroy you, and you can't fight us!'"

The three of them looked at her with blank faces. "I didn't understand half of that."

Hermione sighed in exasperation. "According to these myths, Arachne was the first spider. Her children were all of the other spiders. I'm not sure what they mean by 'the mark,' but Tartarus is the deepest part of the Underworld. It's where the most wicked undergo eternal punishment."

She still got three blank faces. "Just read these, and you'll understand," Hermione shoved the books into their arms.

"One thing I still don't get," Harry said, "Why'd you have to write your parents to send these."

"They weren't in the library. All mythology books disappeared, which makes me even more suspicious."

**(P.S. In the next chapter, the plot is revealed, so keep reading!)**


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